3 Things I’d Stop Doing If I Wanted Fat Loss Over 40
If I could go back and talk to the woman I was a few years ago, there are a few things I would immediately stop doing.
Because honestly? The all-or-nothing approach was keeping me stuck.
I spent years thinking I needed to eat less, do more cardio, sweat more, and somehow “earn” results by exhausting myself. And while some of those things may have worked temporarily in my 20s, they stopped working the same way as I got older. Especially after 40, your body responds differently to stress, recovery, sleep, hormones, and under-eating. And I think a lot of women blame themselves for that.
They assume they’re failing. That they need more discipline. More restriction. More willpower. But in reality, many women are simply following strategies that were never designed to support them long term.
One of the biggest things I would stop doing is under-eating. Diet culture convinced so many women that eating as little as possible was the answer. Tiny meals, skipping meals, trying to “be good” during the day… only to end up exhausted, craving sugar at night, or feeling completely out of control around food later.
Your body needs fuel.
Especially if you want to build lean muscle, support your metabolism, recover from workouts, and actually feel GOOD. I’m not saying nutrition doesn’t matter because it absolutely does. But constantly trying to survive on as little food as possible usually leads to burnout, frustration, and feeling like your body is fighting against you.
The other thing I would stop doing is random workouts. And listen, movement is always a good thing. But many women are bouncing from one workout to another with no real plan behind it. A little cardio here, a random class there, switching things up every week because they think they need to constantly “confuse” their body.
But your body actually needs consistency and progression to change.
This is one reason strength training can be such a game changer for women over 40. Building muscle supports metabolism, energy, posture, confidence, bone health, and healthy aging overall. And no… lifting weights does not automatically make women bulky.
Honestly, I wish more women understood how empowering it feels to become stronger. The last thing I would stop doing is chasing skinny. This one took me years to unlearn myself. So many of us grew up during peak 90s and early 2000s diet culture where being as small as possible felt like the goal. We learned to obsess over the scale, fear carbs, and tie our worth to our weight.
Now? I care so much more about strength, energy, confidence, mobility, and feeling good in my own skin. I want to age well. I want to feel capable. I want to build a body that supports my life instead of constantly fighting against it. And ironically, when women stop obsessing over shrinking themselves and start properly fueling their bodies, building muscle, and focusing on consistency instead of perfection… that’s often when they finally start seeing better results.
Not overnight.
Not perfectly.
But sustainably.
Friend to friend… you do not need to punish your body into changing. You need a realistic approach you can actually maintain. One that supports your real life, your hormones, your energy, and your long-term health. Because the goal is not just to lose weight. The goal is to feel good in your body again. 💛
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